This is when somebody uses some sort of dangerous animal as discreet murder weapon. There's the old trick of leaving a snake in their hotel room, for instance, or the one where you drop a spider near their bed, or perhaps the one where you hide a {{sc|aryScorpions}}orpion in their suitcase. Whatever the animal, it's being used as a subtle but deadly surprise for the intended victim. The reasons for doing this vary: maybe the villain [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident hopes that the murder will be deemed an accident]] (since sometimes, the animal could have gotten there by itself), although other times, it seems that the villain just likes [[ComplexityAddiction doing things the difficult way for no good reason]]. Sometimes it's supposed to be some sort of trademark such as [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent a villain with a snake theme]]. Sometimes it can be an ordinary house pet trained to cause an "accident" like leaving on the gas (read: turning it on after the victim is asleep).

Often, the murder animal will even be GenreSavvy enough to know its role in the story. Rather than waste time hiding or just wandering around aimlessly, as a real animal might do, it gets straight to the point and attacks the hero by the quickest route, despite having no apparent reason to do so. No matter how big the bedroom is, the spider will almost always end up crawling onto the face of the sleeping hero -- and not, say, scuttling into the wardrobe, which is arguably more likely but rather less helpful for the plot. Although this could be justified, as these critters are cold-blooded and may seek heat/warmth. Don't expect a lot of sympathy for the animal, either. The ones chosen as assassins are generally a species which people consider AlwaysChaoticEvil like [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent snakes]] and [[SpidersAreScary arachnids]].

Not to be confused with a SharkPool or other up-front use of animals as a means of execution. This is just about the animals which are delivered to the victim (rather than the victim being delivered to the animal) and which the victim isn't supposed to know about until its too late. Compare AttackAnimal for when someone directly commands an animal to attack, rather than leaving it as a trap. If it's just made to ''look'' like a death by animal attack, that's ThisBearWasFramed.

'''GrammarNazi Note:''' Several of the animals mentioned below are "venomous" -- they inject some toxin in their victim. It is rarely relevant if they are "poisonous" -- that is, toxic if you try to eat them or if toxin is absorbed through the skin.

----!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'':** Done once with a dog that pushes the victim down the stairs. [[spoiler:The man is quite smart about it, training the dog to respond only if the command phrase is spoken over the phone at the same time the downstairs clock chimes.]]** A more "hands-on" example occurs when a girl bitten by a snake in the ocean turns out to have been an attempt at murder [[spoiler:by her fiancee's jealous stepsister]], which involved physically holding the snake and forcing it to bite the victim. This is rather more realistic than most examples of this trope, because such an animal really can't be relied upon to kill someone on its own. Since they were both in the sea, it was basically impossible to find the "weapon" afterward, [[spoiler:though a witness is able to spy what turned out to be tape holding the snake in place.]]* ''Manga/OnePiece'' features Mr. Thirteen (a sea otter with a shell-shaped knife) and Miss Friday (a vulture with a machine gun), a pair of Baroque Works assassins who tries to kill off Sanji. Naturally, Sanji makes short work of them (and steals their Eternal Log).* ''Manga/AnatoliaStory'': One of the princesses staying in Kail's harem is killed by an assassin leaving venomous scorpions in her room (the story takes place in Asia Minor, which is home to one of the few scorpions with venom potent enough to kill a human). Earlier in the story, some of the princesses leave scorpions in Yuri's bed as a cruel prank, though those were identified as a non-lethal species; however, this happens ''right in the day when Kail was supposed to spend the night in Yuri's room'', so [[BewareTheNiceOnes the usually level-minded and sweet Yuri]] [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend gets PISSED]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]* This trope is parodied and [[DoubleSubversion double-subverted]] in the [[FrancoBelgianComics French comic book]] ''Rona : L'Or du Macho-Fichu''. The IntrepidReporter protagonist, while investigating in a BananaRepublic where he has enemies, is advised to "offer more" to the hotel tenant before getting a room. After doing so, the tenant accepts to remove "Eugène" -- a venomous snake that's "part of the house" -- whom he's been paid to put in Rona's bed. The same night, though, Rona finds ''another deadly snake'' in his bed, and the tenant is outraged -- it isn't Eugène, so it's utterly illegal since he's not getting any money from this.* Used in several ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'' comics, like ''De Scherpe Schorpioen'' and ''De Gouden Circel''.* SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker once got a man's pet cat, hopped up on Joker Venom, to bite its owner, killing him and giving him the usual hideous rictus grin. This occurred in his appearance in "The Laughing Fish".[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]* Several of these appeared in the original stories (i.e. not based on Fleming's novels) in the ''Franchise/JamesBond'' newspaper strip:** Vampire bats (with venomous fangs) in "Flittermouse".** Boa constrictors in "The Snake Goddess".[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]* Film/JamesBond runs into some of these.** In ''Film/DrNo'', someone drops a venomous spider (in the film) or centipede (in [[Literature/DrNo the book]]) into his room -- he manages to beat it to death. Note that ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scolopendra_gigantea Scolpendra gigantea]]'' can be fatal to humans. The producers changed the creature from a centipede to a tarantula for the movie because they didn't think [[ViewersAreMorons audiences would realise centipedes could be fatal]]. It's also [[FridgeBrilliance a more logical choice]] (to the extent that this trope can ever be logical), as there is no centipede whose bite is ''reliably'' fatal to an adult human. While the same is true of tarantulas, there are some South American and Australian spiders that of similar size and appearance that really are very dangerous to humans. Thus a tarantula makes for an acceptable film stand-in. This was no comfort to the arachnophobic Creator/SeanConnery, who had to have a body double for the spider to crawl over.** In ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'', somebody tries much the same thing with a snake, which he fries with a quickly improvised flamethrower.** In ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'', Wint and Kidd kill the dentist by dropping a scorpion down the back of his shirt.* This trope is the entire premise behind ''Film/SnakesOnAPlane''.* In ''Franchise/StarWars Episode II: Film/AttackOfTheClones'', an assassin tries to kill Senator Padmé Amidala by way of [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kouhun some deadly-looking alien centipedes]] called kouhuns. Fortunately, Obi-Wan and Anakin come to the rescue and slice the kouhuns in half, saving her. [[AllThereInTheManual Supplemental materials]] explain that yes, kouhuns really are that aggressive. * In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', Burke lets loose a pair of [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong facehuggers]] in the room Ripley and Newt are sleeping in, hoping to impregnate them with alien eggs for the trip home as a way of smuggling the creatures past customs. As a fringe benefit this would also kill Ripley, who has threatened to expose his role in the destruction of the colony.* In the film version of Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'', the murderer tries to kill Poirot with a venomous snake. Nothing remotely similar happens in the book.* In ''Film/KillBill'', Elle Driver gives Budd a briefcase containing a black mamba, which promptly bites him in the face and kills him.* Two of the attempted murders in ''Film/MurderByDeath'' involve a venomous snake and a venomous scorpion.* In ''Film/TheAbominableDrPhibes'', the title doctor kills several of his victims through the use of animal assassins: bees, bats, rats and locusts.* Parodied in ''Film/JohnnyDangerously'' where the title character has an enemy killed by having him run over by a bull.* The aliens in ''Film/TheArrival'' try this on Charlie Sheen's character by filling his hotel room bed with scorpions.* The comedy film ''Film/LeonardPart6'' is about a formula which turns animals homicidal when they hear a code word.* In ''Film/MySuperExGirlfriend'', the spurned G-Girl attempts to kill her ex-boyfriend by flinging a live shark at him through the window of his new girlfriend's highrise apartment.* In ''Film/TheMummyReturns'', Meela throws a venomous snake at Rick, he [[CatchAndReturn throws it right back]]. She also threatens Alex with them.-->'''Alex:''' Lady, I don't behave for my parents. What makes you think I'm going to do it for you?\\'''Meela:''' Because your parents wouldn't slip poisonous snakes into your bed while you were sleeping.* Done with a snake to the token moderate senator during ThePurge in ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''.* In what is almost certainly a ShoutOut to the ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' story "The Speckled Band" (see Literature examples below), ''Film/CarryOnScreaming'' has a scene were the villains attempt to murder the "heroes" by lowering a snake down the bellpull into their bed.* In ''Film/IfLooksCouldKill'', a FemmeFatale tries to murder the protagonist by dropping a scorpion on his lap while his eyes are closed in anticipation for a blowjob. Michael doesn't notice and suddenly jerks up to get a condom, flinging the scorpion into her nightgown, sending her into a writhing panic [[SquirrelsInMyPants he mistakes for seductive dancing]]. [[spoiler: The scorpion likely would have killed her had an assassin ordered by the jealous [[TheDragon Dragon]] to kill them both not done the job with a rocket launcher first (Michael was saved because he was still in the bathroom searching for that condom).]]* The Creator/StevenSeagal movie ''Film/FireDownBelow'' has the bad guys trying to kill the hero with some snakes in his room. It doesn't work, and those same snakes get put into the bad guys' truck with hilarious results.* In ''Film/ColorOfNight'', the villain leaves a rattlesnake in Capa's mailbox, which nearly kills him.* In the French movie ''Les Barbouzes'', a group of competing spies have infiltrated the castle of a rich heiress, and are trying to discretely kill each other, to little avail since they're all paranoid. Sure enough, the German spy carefully check his bed before the night, and find a live scorpion under the sheets.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gamebooks]]* In the ''Literature/LoneWolf'' book 12, ''The Masters of Darkness'', while [[DressingAsTheEnemy dressed as the enemy]] and hitching a ride on a giant land vehicle, the hero is attacked in his cabin by a [[http://www.projectaon.org/en/xhtml/lw/12tmod/ill2.gif Plaak]], a small jelly-like horror with venomous fangs. Ironically, this isn't because Lone Wolf's disguise has failed; the target of the assassination attempt is the creature he usurped the identity.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' is about kids [[{{Animorphism}} who turn into animals]] and kill aliens. (Think that's weird? You ain't seen nothing yet.) They don't have animal assassins... they ARE them.* Franchise/FuManchu is the acknowledged master of this method of killing. He is especially fond of this in the earlier books when he has access to venomous arthropods "unknown to Western science".* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':** Wizards at the Unseen University have a history of advancing their careers by the principle of [[KlingonPromotion Dead-Mens Pointy Boots]], and therefore have a saying: "When a man is tired of checking for scorpions in his boots, he is tired of life."** In ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'', an elf tries to invoke this trope on Hodgesaaargh, siccing one of the falconer's own fearsome birds of prey on him. [[spoiler:Subverted in that the raptor attacks the elf instead, because that's exactly what it does to Hodgesaaargh when ''he'' handles it.]]** In the same book, Magrat also uses Greebo (Nanny's Ogg cat) against another elf as one would a claymore mine.** ''Discworld/{{Snuff}}'' mentions a "filing clerk" by the name of Arachne who pleaded to be assigned to the embassy of [[LandDownUnder Fourecks]] because she's particularly attracted by venomous spiders. [[spoiler:Vetinari gives her the task of taking care of [[BigBad Gravid]] at the end of the book. Not all [[MoralEventHorizon sins]] are forgiven.]]* ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'':** In the story "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", the speckled band in question is a deadly snake the murderer sends down the bell cord [[FinancialAbuse to kill his adopted daughter to not give them her dowry]], and is commanded with a whistle -- a practice completely unknown in real life. When he tries to do the same thing to the dead girl's twin sister, who had gone to Holmes for help, Holmes attacks the snake, driving it back through the vent into the next room, and the murderer is [[HoistByHisOwnPetard bitten to death immediately after]].** There's also ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'', where the MagnificentBastard villain breeds a ferocious attack dog to scare an old man with a heart condition to death, and later tries to use it against his victim's nephew. In this case the directness of the animal is justified in that it was trained with the victims' scents, the villain stole the nephew's boot, and it accidentally "killed" (tripped and broke his neck running away) another man who was wearing the nephew's clothes.** In the story "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", the Lion's Mane jellyfish (''Cyanea capillata''). Subverted as it's not a murder weapon -- the jelly is nigh invisible, and the victims swam into its tentacles by mistake.* In ''Literature/ChildrenOfDune'', some sort of saber-toothed tiger things are trained to attack sets of clothing impregnated with a certain chemical. The clothes are given as a gift to Ghanima and Leto II, and the tigers are sent to kill them. The worst part: the tigers were conditioned to attack two children wearing those clothes and matching their description. How were they conditioned? With carefully-selected pairs of children, of course. Pair after pair after pair until they got it right.-->"Tell our buyers they can stop sending us pairs of children who fit the description."* A snake in the Literature/BenSnow story "Suddenly, with Fangs". [[spoiler:Subverted in that the snake wasn't that interested in attacking, and the intended victim ended up using it on the assassin.]]* Happens at the beginning of the Literature/AlexRider book ''Scorpia''. An old gangster has finally decided to retire from a massive international terrorist group, but you don't retire from massive international terrorist groups. So one of the members gives a "parting gift", which is actually a briefcase full of scorpions, which climb all over the man and sting him to death. Apparently his heart gives out long before the poison kills him.* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':** The book features at least one of these. The animal in question is merely referred to as a "manticore".** There is also an anecdote told about the occupation of Dorne. After King Daeron conquers Dorne, he appoints a lord loyal to him to suppress dissidents and chase rebels. While guesting at the castle of a disgruntled Dornish lord, he is given a room with a rope beside the bed, and told that if he pulls it his host will have a girl sent to his bed. When, feeling amorous, he pulls it, it rips open the canopy above his bed and dumps an unreasonable amount of angry and venomous scorpions on top of him.** The Faceless Men sometimes use drugs to drive animals into vicious rages to have them kill their owners. Jaquen H'gar is implied to have used this to knock off one of the people on Arya's hit list, who was savaged by a beloved dog.* The second book of Creator/BernardWerber's ''Ants'' trilogy has robotic ants sent to guide real ants to kill scientists working on an insecticide (and later, the cop that investigates the case).* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':** Werewolf Fenrir Greyback is a self-induced animal assassin. He cannot control himself in werewolf form, but he gets around this by deliberately placing himself near his intended victims' home shortly before full moon so that, upon his change, those victims will be the closest human targets he can attack.** For that matter, consider Salazar Slytherin, who left the basilisk at Hogwarts for ''centuries'' so it could eventually get activated by his Heir ([[spoiler:Tom Riddle, a.k.a. Voldemort]]) and kill the Muggle-borns. And for that matter, Voldemort using Nagini. Both of these examples are unusual, however; as Parseltongues, Slytherin and Voldemort can both communicate with snakes, and apparently have no problem getting them to do their bidding.* Worthy of mention due to the utter madness: in ''[[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Tangled Webs]]'', one {{Jerkass}} tries to kill a young lady by dropping a venomous (deadly ''for a human'', that is) spider on her bed. Nevermind she's... a ''drow''. As in "sneaky people who check where they go and hold spiders for sacred animals". Of course, when she saw it, CrowningMomentOfFunny ensues. She horribly suffered from sharp venomous bites of nostalgia for a few minutes.* In ''Literature/ChildrenOfTheLamp: The Akhenaten Adventure'', the main villains are fond of using snakes and scorpions to do their dirty work. {{Justified|Trope}} in that a) they have special connections with these animals and b) they're too lazy to do it themselves.* In the Literature/VorkosiganSaga, Barrayaran history includes an "incendiary cat plot". The exact details of it [[NoodleIncident haven't been revealed yet]].* Done with green mambas twice in ''Literature/ThePoisonwoodBible''. [[spoiler:The first attempt fails, the second one ignores the intended target and kills one of the heroes.]]* In ''Literature/StateOfFear'', the main murder method of the bad guys is to get a team of ninjas to burst in, and restrain the target, while someone presses a blue-ringed octopus against their armpit. The point is an untraceable means of murder: the bite mark is barely noticeable and the species fairly obscure.* Attempted on Jame in ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'', during ''To Ride a Rathorn''. Jame makes friends with the swamp adder and then returns her to her owner.* The BigBad in the Franchise/DocSavage novel ''The Fantastic Island'' uses venomous centipedes for this purpose.* ''[[Franchise/PerryMason The Case of the Grinning Gorilla]]'' features a gorilla hypnotized to perform murder. [[spoiler:It's actually a human in a gorilla suit.]]* ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'':** In ''Magyk'', [=DomDaniel=] tries to kill Marcia with his Magogs, unsuccessfully.** The Aie-Aie of Queen Etheldredda in ''Physik'' carries a plague and is used by the Queen to kill those that displease her.* Semi-used in ''Literature/{{Safehold}}''. While arranging for Cayleb to go hunting for a slash lizard was mostly just to get him away from most of his bodyguards, the assassins were hoping the creature would do the job for them. It didn't, so they had to attack him the usual way. * In one of the early ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' tie-in novels, a general is nearly assassinated by a scorpion hidden in a bowl of chips (the attempt is foiled by the army's goblin mascot, who gets stung instead).* In ''Murder in the Dark'', Literature/PhryneFisher is sent a live coral snake inside a Christmas present.* In ''Cure the Texas Fever'' by Creator/JTEdson, one of the attempts to kill Waxahachie Smith involves unleashing an enraged longhorn steer to run him down.* ''Literature/JamesBond''** A vampire bat attacks Bond in ''Literature/NobodyLivesForEver''. However, it was just supposed to infect him with rabies, and him slowly succumbing to it was supposed to give amusement to the bad guys before they cut his head off.** The bad guys try to kill Bond and Easy in ''Literature/DeathIsForever'' by having the their hotel room service bring them [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink food laced with spider eggs]], which were supposed to kill them from the inside after ingestion. The BigBad later claims that it was just amusement to keep them on their toes.** The bad guys in ''Literature/TheManWithTheRedTattoo'' developed a species of mosquito which infects people with West Nile disease that acts ten times faster than normal, killing them within a day.* A different take on this trope is in ''Wolves Eat Dogs'' by Martin Cruz Smith. The killer is waging psychological warfare on his target by planting radioactive material in his house (in revenge for his role in the Chernobyl disaster). One way to get past the man's security is to plant a tiny particle of Caesium-137 in the fur of his dog.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]* ''Series/GetSmart'':** An episode has a gorilla who had plastic surgery and mental conditioning(!) to make it look and act human, but would turn ape and kill when given an auditory cue (and a banana).** Another episode has an assassin drop a venomous spider in Max's suitcase while he was unpacking. Max fails to notice it clinging to the coat as he puts it in the closet where another assassin is waiting. HilarityEnsues.* Lodz kills Ruthie with one of her own snakes in Season One of ''Series/{{Carnivale}}''. She gets better.* ''Series/PushingDaisies'' uses this trope in "Pie-lette" (a dog), "Bzzzzzt!" ({{bee|BeeGun}}s) and "Kerplunk" (''a ThreateningShark'').* In an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Frasier tries to help his father resolve an unsolved murder case and comes to the conclusion that one of the suspects trained a monkey to stab the victim. [[AvertedTrope He's wrong]].* In the special ''The Real Wolfman'', the specialists believed at the end that [[spoiler:a man had trained a hyena to attack women and children and the villagers believed it was a werewolf or a large wolf.]]* In an episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'', it turns out that [[spoiler:the killer, a Howard Stern-esque radio DJ, had trained the neighbor's dog to turn on the gas in the bedroom where his wife, the victim, slept whenever the dog heard a certain phrase during his radio broadcast.]]* One episode of ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' has the killer training a pair of guard dogs to attack the person saying a specific word, which he then induces the victim to say through a phone call.* In ''Series/TheAvengers'' episode "The Hidden Tiger", house cats are turned into man-killers.* The title character of ''Series/SledgeHammer'' is being menaced by a cobra throughout an entire episode. The snake finally has him cornered when Sledge says, "I've been wanting to do this for a long time," and clocks the snake in the face with a vicious right-cross.* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Regina in the fairy tale world had a pair of Agrhaban vipers sent to her room to kill herself with (à la Cleopatra) until her lover, the Genie suggests that there's another way. He uses the vipers to murder the king. It later turns out she [[ManipulativeBitch planned the whole thing]].* In the ''Series/{{Bones}}'' episode "The Finger in the Nest" a dog is used. [[spoiler:Brennan wants to adopt the dog, whom she has named Ripley, but it has to be put down. She and Booth bury him.]]* From ''Series/MurdochMysteries'', episode "Evil Eye of Egypt", a cobra is placed in a sarcophagus to bite the first person opening it. Naturally, this is blamed on an antic Egyptian curse.* ''Series/TheDoctorBlakeMysteries'': ** In "Death of a Travelling Salesman", the victim of the week is murdered by having a venomous snake planted in his car.** In "Ties of the Past", a priest who is allergic to bee stings is locked in the confessional with a jar full of angry bees.* ''Series/TheXFiles'', "Die Hand die Verletzt": Mrs Paddock has her school python and it is sent to kill one guy from the parents' committee. * ''Series/RedDwarf'': In "Stoke Me a Clipper", one of ThoseWackyNazis unleashes his pet alligator Snappy on Ace Rimmer, daredevil pilot and savior of many a dimension. Ace being, well, TheAce, he uses Snappy to air-surf away from an [[StuffBlowingUp exploding]] plane, and has the gator kill his former owner so Ace can [[VariableTerminalVelocity acquire his parachute]]. [[PhraseCatcher What a guy!]]* A bear is baited into killing a convicted killer who was granted early parole in the ''Series/{{Longmire}}'' episode "The Worst Kind of Hunter".* In ''Series/TerraNova'', someone was able to get someone killed by locking up a Slasher and waiting for the guy to open the door.* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "Wild Harvest", the first VictimOfTheWeek is tied up in a forest, doused with truffle oil, and left to be gored to death by a wild boar.* A vicious attack dog is used as a murder weapon in the ''Series/CSIMiami'' episode "At Risk".* ''Series/WhodunnitUK'': In "Happy New Year", the Victim of the Week is bittern by a venomous snake the killer placed in his safe.* ''Series/DeathInParadise'': In "A Deadly Curse", one VictimOfTheWeek (who is deathly allergic to insect bites) is murdered when the killer releases a kissing bug in his cell.* ''Series/FrontierCircus'': In "The Depths of Fear", the lion tamer locks his wife and his rival inside a cage and unleashes a lion upon them.* ''Series/MissFishersMurderMysteries'': In "Game, Set and Murder", the VictimOfTheWeek is murdered by having a venomous spider placed in their shoe.* In the 2012 German ''Baron Münchausen'' miniseries, the evil majordomo of Tsarin Katharina places a venomous snake in the Baron's clothes. It's identified as an adder, but it's clearly a coral snake (or at least, the inoffensive coral-snake lookalike species that is usually used to film such scenes).[[/folder]]

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]* OlderThanFeudalism: A vase (c. 480 BCE) and a poem by Pindar (476-472 BCE) are the first sources for the story of Hera sending serpents to kill the infant Heracles. Of course, it didn't work. Baby Herc just strangled the snakes and used them as rattles.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]* In one episode of ''Radio/BoldVenture'', a radio show starring HumphreyBogart and Lauren Bacall, someone is murdered by having an enraged gamecock with razor sharp spurs on its faced tossed on to them while they are asleep. Their face is slashed to ribbons and they bleed to death.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]* Classic ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'', ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #12 Amber Zone article "Royal Hunt". The EvilChancellor Hamir has arranged for attacks by two different types of animals on the Potentate and the {{PC}} party: the Delajabar, an amphibious animal that lives in the Dweljara river, and a small but highly poisonous monster that will be inserted into the party's tents at night.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]* The plotline of ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon]]'' revolves around Tsukigata family, otherwise known as the 8th Fukoshi Clan, a lineage of assassins who use insects to kill.* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Gaiden'', after [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz Dekim Barton]] is defeated, [[Anime/{{Braiger}} Khamen Khamen]] [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness deemed him useless and promptly snuck a king cobra to bite and kill him, without Khamen being on the place]]. It almost bit Isaac, but [[Anime/{{Daitarn 3}} Haran Banjou]] shot it dead in the nick of time.* In the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' games, animals are sometimes used by Assassins in cutscenes, i.e. an assassin slipping a snake into someone's bed in ''[[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar Medieval II]]''.* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', you can fling scorpions at unwitting soldiers, watch them dance around in a panic, and then die from the poison. [[YouBastard Shame on you for laughing.]]* ''VideoGame/NancyDrew'':** In the game ''Secrets of Shadow Ranch'', Nancy's hosts at the ranch aren't there when she arrives, as a rattlesnake somehow got into their bedroom and sent one of them to the hospital. Possibly a subversion, as it's never confirmed that the culprit actually put it there.** Also, in ''Lights, Camera, Curses!'', the ShowWithinAShow movie ''Pharaoh'' supposedly ends when the female lead (playing Nefertiti) tries to murder someone with a venomous snake. The [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes ophidiophobic actress]] who plays Nefertiti isn't pleased when the director insists she hold a live (harmless) snake in this scene.* Mentioned in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI''. A female Egyptian assassin eliminated Cleopatra with a planted snake.* ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' employs this frequently. Many outposts that can be taken tend to have cages with deadly predators just waiting to be released, and sometimes the predator can simply come from the wild. Once set loose, that defenseless-looking tiger will rip through pirates like tissue paper, giving you the outpost without lifting a finger. The animal, however, will still be there, and be more than happy to eat ''you'' next.* The ''Film/BladeRunner'' video game had this done with (artificial) scorpions. Not only were they used to kill a major NPC, the player character could sit on one if you failed to see it ([[GuideDangIt it was the same color as the chair]], making it impossible to see).[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]* Due to using footage from the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels, ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' features the same attempt as in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''. TheRant [[FridgeLogic questions the logic of this, pointing out that if they could get a droid close enough to the window to cut it open and put animals inside, it could probably also have just been filled with explosives and blow up the room.]]* One of the villains of ''[[Webcomic/{{Starslip}} Starslip Crisis]]'' claims to have set off [[NoodleIncident some sort of interplanetary incident]] all by himself. With six trained ''goldfish''.* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': While a pirate in timeless space, one of Bun-bun's crew put a venomous serpent in his room. He responded in kind with a rabid caribou-man.* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Grace's "brothers" were [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-03-17 created to be this]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]* EvilOverlordList item 119:-->''I will not attempt to kill the hero by placing a venomous creature in his room. It will just wind up accidentally killing one of my clumsy henchmen instead.''[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'':** The show humorously {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this trope. One {{mook}} releases a scorpion into Dr. Venture's room while he is sleeping just as a competing mook let a tarantula loose. Instead of killing their intended target, the two creatures just fight each other.** Also there's an incident where Dr. Venture is checking mail and he opens a box containing a cobra, poised to strike. However, it turns out [[ForgotToFeedTheMonster the box was very old and the cobra simply turns to dust]].** The Monarch's solution to Dr. Venture's group therapy sessions taking away from their, er, time together? Have Henchman #21 drop a venomous snake onto the therapist. Notably, it works.* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'':** TOS (The Original Series)*** "The Fraudulent Volcano". Dr. Zin's {{mooks}} use a tarantula against Dr. Quest.*** "Riddle of the Gold". Dr. Zin's agent arranges for a tiger to attack Dr. Quest during a hunt.** In ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'', a mook sneaks a spitting cobra into the hero's jet. It blinds Race, who was piloting, nearly causing them to crash. Later, Hadji [[HoistByHisOwnPetard uses the cobra against the mook]].* Serpentor of ''Franchise/GIJoe'' often threw live snakes as missile weapons. The show couldn't actually show anyone being bitten, so these allegedly-venomous serpents wrapped themselves around their targets' necks and choked them instead.* In a ''WesternAnimation/{{Minoriteam}}'' episode, the White Shadow laments that his goons keep attempting this.-->'''White Shadow:''' Honestly, why do we keep trying to kill these guys with snakes? Pound for pound, dollar for dollar, snakes have to be the worst way to kill someone!* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': "OH MY GOD, THERE'S A BEAR IN MY OATMEAL!"[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]* Cleopatra successfully killed herself by having a venomous snake snuck in a basket into her room. Although scholars dispute this account due to the difficulty of forcing a snake to strike and the non-lethality of most snake bites. It is nonetheless the official history. The popular image is her [[MarshmallowHell clinging the snake to her bosom]], so maybe she was trying to stab herself with the snake's fangs.* According to ''Lost Tapes'' a man tried to use a centipede to harm his neighbor. It didn't really work.* Some versions of the Assassin live-action game, as played on college campuses, allow this tactic. To make a "kill", the attacker must place a toy snake, spider, or scorpion in the target's bed, backpack, or the like; if anyone but the intended target finds the plastic or rubber AnimalAssassin first, the "kill" fails.[[/folder]]